Trade Descriptions Section
About the Section
The Section provides analytical and advisory support to the Customs and Excise Department (C&ED) in the enforcement of legislation concerning consumer protection. Analytical services are provided to support their statutory functions under Trade Descriptions Ordinance (TDO), including service provision to support the various new and updated Orders/Regulations under the TDO so as to enable timely and effective enforcement of the TDO. The services cover analysis and authenticity tests on consumer products, in particular those related to valuable goods such as jewellery and seafood products where their authenticity is of public concern.
Responsibilities
This Section helps to implement the following legislation of Hong Kong:
- Trade Descriptions Ordinance
- Trade Descriptions (Marking) (Gold and Gold Alloy) Order
- Trade Descriptions (Marking) (Platinum) Order
- Trade Descriptions (Provision of Information on Natural Fei Cui) Order
- Trade Descriptions (Provision of Information on Diamond) Order
Quality Assurance
About 20% of the tests conducted in the Section are for QC purposes.
Key Instruments
The following instruments are used routinely by the Section:
- Gas chromatographs with FID and MSD
- Fourier transform infrared – microscope
- CHN analyzer
- Raman spectrometer with microscopic examination capabilities
- DNA sequence and fragment analysing system
- Next-generation DNA sequencing system
DNA sequence and fragment analysing system
Robotic workstation for DNA extraction
Targets and Key Indicators
Key Performance Measures Relating to the Statutory Testing
Targets #
# For targets where reporting time is mentioned, different samples require different analytical procedures, hence different reporting time. The quoted number of working days required represents an average of reporting time for the different types of samples and test requests within the category, while the target (in percentage) is the total compliance rate of the concerned samples and test requests within a particular category against their respective targets.